Savory squash bread

I was invited to a potluck dinner party on Sunday and was asked to bring bread to accompany dinner. I settled on pao de queijo and "zucchini" bread. I wanted to make something savory to go along with some of the soups and chili that other people brought, but all the recipes I'd ever seen for zucchini bread were sweet. We had some summer squash from the CSA left, so a quick google search of "savory zucchini bread recipe" led me here, and an idea was formed. I added in some extras, like a jalapeno from my garden as well as subbing in the summer squash for the zucchini and everyone seemed to enjoy it, though we almost didn't make it.

Our puppy had some sort of terrible allergic reaction to *something*. She got all these bumps on her face and body that became quite swollen. One trip to the emergency vet and $165 later, Kimchi was less swollen, but we're still not sure what it was. Colby gave her an oatmeal bath to help with the redness and the itchiness. How dedicated!



Squash bread

3 c AP flour
1 t salt
4 t baking powder*
1/2 T dried dill
1 T dried parsley
1 c grated yellow (summer) squash or zucchini
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/4 c green onions, minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 c buttermilk (or 4 T cultured buttermilk powder with 1 c water)

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, salt, herbs, baking powder, and buttermilk powder if using.

Toss in squash, 3/4 of the cheese, jalapeno, and green onion until all are coated and evenly distributed.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat together eggs, olive oil, and buttermilk (or water).

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones gently until combined. Don't overmix. It'll be kind of like a really wet dough.

Place dough in a well greased loaf pan and bake for about 40 minutes and then top with the remaining cheese. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and then cleanly removed from the center.

*The recipe in the link also includes 1/2t baking soda, but I didn't so that's not an accidental omission.

Graduate applications are a pain

So in the past month, I've made risotto, chicken, some sort of dip, cheese straws, holiday cookies, milk chocolate (by accident), more bread, cream biscuits with cheese, roast lemon chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes. Also a couple drop biscuits here and there. I've also been working on my application to grad school and that's kind of awful... so more updates once those are done.

Also

http://loltonbrown.blogspot.com

Beer Bread

Okay seriously... beer + bread... sounds too good to be true, right? Well... maybe.

I've recently taken an interest in quick breads because they're pretty easy and I actually have baking soda/baking powder, as opposed to yeast. This recipe was ridiculously simple.

3 c all purpose flour
3 tbs sugar
1.5 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder

Mix. Put into a well greased (like with Pam) bread pan. Put in a 375 degree oven for an hour. Eat.

So the beer that I used was a wheat beer called Zoomer from the New Holland Brewing company in west Michigan. My problem with that beer is that it's entirely too hop-y for being a wheat beer and you can definitely taste that in the bread, though it's not a strong. My inclination would be to find a different beer whose flavors I appreciate more, but it was either Zoomer or Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat... and just... no. I mean, it's not horrible, but it could be a lot better. I'd actually think that if you did this with Stella or Sam Adams or, hell, Budweiser, it would be a lot better.